Tag Archives: $6.99

With nearly a week remaining until the release of Infinity Blade II on December 1st, Chair has released a new video of some in-game footage alongside describing the visuals. While some parts of it are reminiscent of Apple’s iPhone introduction videos, it does show a lot of gameplay footage, highlighting the shades and lighting that take place within the game.

The first Infinity Blade was released back in 2010, wowing users by its breathtaking graphics using the Epic Unreal Engine 3. We personally loved the game, and although it was a bit repetitive, the gameplay itself was action-packed, well-balanced, and a bit more difficult every time, leading me to keep coming back for more and more until I was able to buy all of the most expensive accessories in the store.

In short, we were mightily impressed with the first one and cannot wait to see what’s in store for the second one.

Infinity Blade II will be released on December 1st for $6.99, and it will be universal. In celebration of Infinity Blade II’s upcoming release, the original has been put on sale for $2.99 (and even though it’s old, I suggest you pick it up).

The first-person shooter genre has, for the most part, been solely owned by Gameloft on the App Store. With their Halo-clone series NOVA and their Call of Duty-clone series, Gameloft has continually shown that even though they tend to rip off a lot of ideas, their games are enjoyable and have a lot of depth to them.

The trend continues with Modern Combat 3, a fully functional first-person shooter with online multiplayer and a pretty lengthy campaign mode.

Modern Combat 3 contains 12 total singe player missions, each taking around 20 minutes to complete. The online multiplayer features a ton of different weapons, skills, attachments, accessories (grenades, sticky grenades, mines, etc.), and weapon kits, all alongside the new military support such as bomber, airstrike, radar, and nuke.

There are a total of seven different online multiplayer modes and six maps, and quite honestly, they’ve improved the multiplayer maps a lot from the maps in Modern Combat 2. They’re a lot larger and have a lot more hiding spots, making it much more suspenseful than the previous game in the series.

All in all, Modern Combat 3 is one fantastic game.

Likes

Graphics: The graphics in Modern Combat 3 are insane. I never knew my iPad 2 could handle this detail, let alone have that detail transfer into a 12-player online multiplayer mode. The work they’ve done in the graphical department is absolutely fantastic, and even though I thought that Gameloft would not be able to improve the graphics of Modern Combat 2, they’ve proven me wrong yet again.

Online multiplayer: I love how they added new things into the online multiplayer such as military support and new weapons and such, making this the most addictive online multiplayer experience on the App Store. It comes very close to console quality in terms of how much variety there is to the multiplayer, and I’m in utter awe at how well of a job Gameloft has done with the multiplayer. It’s extremely fun, well-balanced, well-varied, and overall just a blast to play for hours at a time. There are a few gripes I have with it though, but I’ll get to that later.

Universal: I love Gameloft’s decision to make all of their future games universal, and I’m really enjoying the online multiplayer on both my iPad and my iPhone.

Dislikes

Bugs, Disconnections, etc.: The thing about the online multiplayer is that it doesn’t work all the time, and there are some times when you’re sitting at your desk continually trying to connect to the server with no avail. It does get frustrating sometimes, and while the multiplayer is brilliant for most of the time, there are those few times when it refuses to budge.

Lag: For some reason, the game lags heavily on my iPhone 4, both online and off. I don’t think the iPhone 4 is THAT old of a device, and it should be running quite smoothly. But alas, Modern Combat 3 seems to be just too much for my “old” device, and for those of you out there with an iPhone 4, here’s a word of warning for you.

File size: The game is slightly over 1 GB of memory, and it takes quite a long time to download. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to clear up some space for an app this size, and be prepared to wait at least 20 minutes for it to fully download and install.

Modern Combat 3 is absolutely brilliant, and I find myself continually playing the online multiplayer everyday. The single player is also quite robust and diverse, giving Modern Combat 3 a well-balanced gameplay between shooting bad guys and mini-games, such as shooting soldiers on an AC-130. Anyhow, if you haven’t picked this game up yet, I suggest you to do so right away no matter the price. This is one you shouldn’t miss.

The App Store isn’t a stranger to the likes of “gangster” games; Gameloft has released their own in Gangstar and Gangstar 2, and Rockstar has also released Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on the iPhone and iPad.

And in the vein of these gangster-like games comes an all new title from Gameloft dubbed 9mm, a game in which you play bad cop, defeating all the gangsters and criminals in your way to ultimately save you and your team from death.

Looking at 9mm from a graphical standpoint, I would have to say that it’s quite impressive, although I’ve come to expect these types of graphics when reviewing Gameloft games. One marked improvement above the rest, though, lies in the voice acting. Now don’t get me wrong, the voice acting still needs a little bit of work, but it’s a very large improvement from the past, and the characters actually sound like they would in real life.

Of course, being a universal app always helps along with the inclusion of online multiplayer. And the story isn’t too shabby either.

But be warned: this is one of the most vulgar games I’ve played on the App Store. This is definitely not a game that should be bought for your 10-year old son’s birthday, and I’m not even sure I should be playing this game at times. I’m not too bothered by vulgar language and such, but when there are unnecessary doses of four-lettered words, it does seem to get a little bit of an annoyance.

Still, 9mm packs some great graphics, an interesting storyline, and quite an interesting online multiplayer mode.

Likes

Voice-acting: I love when game developers approve on their next games, and while Gameloft took quite a while to shore up their voice-acting, they seem to be headed in the right direction with 9mm. I wouldn’t say that the voice acting is spotless, but it’s enough to sit there normally without cringing at the sound of out-of-place tones and such.

Online multiplayer/universal: I think both of these points really speak for themselves; the inclusion of online multiplayer and being a universal app has been quite a staple in Gameloft’s recent games, and I just have to commend them for that. Their Gameloft Live servers seem to have improved tremendously, overcoming it’s infancy and becoming one of the smoothest online multiplayer experiences on the iOS. As for being a universal app, you can’t really say much about it other than the fact that you love it. No more buying a game twice — one for your iPhone and one for your iPad — it’s now packed into one, convenient download, along with being, technically, half the price. All in all, both the online multiplayer and universal are a winning combination for the consumer.

Action-packed: If there’s one thing that 9mm provides, it’s action. The shooting scenes are quite exhilarating, the weapon selection is extensive, and the action itself seems to never end (which in this case is a good thing). While I wouldn’t call it the most action-packed game in the App Store, I would have to say that 9mm is up there. So if you’re looking for thrills and chills, 9mm is really the way to go.

Dislikes

Vulgarity: Like I mentioned before, vulgar language doesn’t really bother me too much. But when it’s every other word, it really becomes unnecessary to use so much colorful language in such a short sentence. This is totally subjective here; if you can compromise and deal with it that’s fine with me. It’s just a warning to all purchasing that there’s a lot of language in here that may just not be suitable for everyone out there.

Short campaign: The campaign isn’t too long, lasting a mere 3-4 hours. There is online multiplayer to add some more playing time to the game overall, but the campaign is a bit short.

9mm includes some improved voice-acting, great online multiplayer, an interesting storyline, and an overall action-packed adventure that is sure to entice third-person shooter fans. Just note that the game isn’t for everyone, and I personally thought the amount of language in this game was really unnecessary.

9mm was developed by Gameloft, and I played through version 1.0 on my iPad 2. The price is $6.99.

It also includes online multiplayer for up to 12 people across 4 maps, presumably using Gameloft Live for all the online action. 9mm also includes soundtracks from Freeway & Jake One, Beanie Sigel, and Apathy, with Freeway & Jake One even making a special appearance within the game.

If that’s not enough to convince you, Gameloft has added universal support, so you don’t have to buy the same game twice for your iOS devices.

The story starts out with you, the main character, as a high-ranking official in the British army going to war with the intruding Spanish army, presumably sometime during the 18th century and the French and Indian War (Hundred Years’ War, etc.).

But in a story that somewhat reminds us of The Count of Monte Cristo, you get betrayed and imprisoned, ultimately going from high-ranking official and soon-to-be wed to imprisoned, tarnished, and ruined.

You then join some sort of rebellion against Britain; therefore, you become an enemy of the country you once fought for.

The gameplay itself is very much like Assassin’s Creed with a little bit of Grand Theft Auto elements snuck in there, suck as the “criminal” level, along with being able to steal other people’s horses.

It’s all quite an intriguing mix of story and gameplay — one that is actually quite enjoyable — but there are some factors that leave it short of ultimate praise.

For one, the gameplay is very repetitive in the whole tapping mechanism; shooting the soldiers is very inconvenient and takes a bit too long in the heat of battle. Also, the graphics and animations on the iPad 2 aren’t exactly the greatest, as the framerate seems a bit slow, and the player models are very geometric.

Likes

Gameplay: Gameloft is really one of the only companies that manages to create these blockbuster, action-packed games, and it seems to manage to create a slightly different gameplay mechanism in each of its games. Backstab isn’t any different — what — with its guns, grenades, swords, cannons… the list goes on and on. While the gameplay does get a bit repetitive—I do wish there were some sort of combo system—it is quite enjoyable and one that shouldn’t disappoint action fans.

Storyline: The storyline really reminds me of Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo, one book that I enjoyed and still continue to enjoy. And if I’m not mistaken, this seems to be an original Gameloft game with no real “copied” game that I can think of. Well props to them for such an intriguing storyline and a game title that fits quite snugly with the entire theme.

Universal: I love universal; even more when Gameloft decides to go universal for no extra cost. Nothing to lose, so much to gain.

Dislikes

Repetitive: The fighting system in this game could use slightly more depth; there are no different combos and the like, with only one button for sword fighting and one for shooting.

Graphics, Animations, Etc.: I never thought this day would come: the day I bash on Gameloft’s graphics. Well here I am, looking at Backstab, and sitting in utter disbelief at how terrible the character models, animations, and graphics are. Ok, maybe not terrible. But definitely not up to par with the graphics of games such as Aralon or Nova; heck, not even up to par with Modern Combat: Sandstorm. The framerate on the iPad 2 also seems less than ideal — maybe around 20 fps at times — and it all just seems quite out of character for Gameloft.

The graphics and animations aren’t so horrendous that it ruins the gameplay, but it could use some improvement. And it is definitely not on par with Gameloft’s previous games.

Backstab is an enjoyable, action-packed game that I don’t think will disappoint many in terms of gameplay and storyline. All of it is intriguing, interesting, and enjoyable; there’s nothing like it on the App Store. It is a little repetitive though, and the graphics and animations really keep it back from being named one of the best on the App Store. The performance isn’t really up to par either. But all in all, Backstab is a solid game that is enough to keep you busy for more than a few hours.